But, then again, some of those who are full of it have gotten rich dispensing it for a fee. See some of them on tv still, usually latte at night or early Sunday mornings. And I suppose if I thought back over the years, I prollie paid for some of it myself. I therefore, respect Dirtbag's claim of being free of it. And I do admire anyone who is unencumbered or feel's they are "free of bullshit". Even though they may, themselves, feel I am full of exactly what they are free of.

And I get the point, who wouldn't? Do not force that bullshit onto anyone, particularly them! Kinda counter productive in the least, and overkill at worse.

Anyway, I am beginning to sound like I am full of bullsh#t, so I will depart.

I don't know if I love the atheist life anymore than I would a life beieving in God, but reason and the evidence at hand make it impossible for me to be anything but an atheist. +1 for The God Delusion.

My experience with the proclaimed and committed atheists in my life – this includes siblings with advanced degrees operating at a world class level in their respective fields –all real solid individuals. Enlightened self interest is how one of my partners describes it. These are People of veracity and above reproach. That said, anything militant is natural suspect in my mind. After all militant is just a catch phrase for fundamentalist reactionary ready to bludgeon anyone and anything that does not kowtow to their strict doctrine – an expected acquiescence if not we will shout louder and longer until you do prime directive – “resistance is futile….” Reciprocity & respect for the process should be foundational in any discussion in my opinion

Thank you to the proclaimed and committed Atheists on ST – even the shrill & whiney ones and you know who you are - for you help to promote ideas and discussions. Strength and encouragement to you all …………. For myself I do not have enough faith to be an atheist – please know I tried. In the end I give thanks to Darwin and praises to Gould! All power to Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris! In part due to your teachings I believe in God

“Men despise religion. They hate it and are afraid it may be true.”
Blaise Pascal

“Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed”
Blaise Pascal

As long as I don't get too narcissistic and see myself as all powerful, and nurture a sense of there being grater forces out there than my big mouth - for instance, Nature - I can still have some sense of there being holy things in the world, like him and her, without getting trapped by or ranting against the mythology.

The only true freedom is to be detached from every preference and to take it all "neat."

Easy to say, impossible to do perfectly, but it can act as a polestar. And that's a powerful tool.

You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.
And at one point you'd hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.
And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.
And you'll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they'll be comforted to know your energy's still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you're just less orderly.

As long as I don't get too narcissistic and see myself as all powerful, and nurture a sense of there being grater forces out there than my big mouth - for instance, Nature - I can still have some sense of there being holy things in the world, like him and her, without getting trapped by or ranting against the mythology.

Why would you blasphemize the word 'holy' while adhering to apparent agnosticism? Pick one belief system or the other.

The only true freedom is to be detached from every preference and to take it all "neat."

So you want it all ways. No obligations? Fine. Don't split hairs if you're a Christian. Either you believe, or you don't. Quit trying to tread the agnostic stupid middle ground.

Easy to say, impossible to do perfectly, but it can act as a polestar. And that's a powerful tool.